The estranged wife of Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann has pleaded with the media to respect her family’s privacy.
Asa Ellerup, 59, filed for divorce after Mr Heuermann was charged on 13 July with the murders of three women whose bodies were found on a stretch of Long Island shoreline more than a decade ago.
Police spent 12 days searching the family’s run-down home in Massapequa Park, which has since become a macabre landmark attracting hundreds of true crime enthusiasts and reporters.
The mother of two is yet to comment publicly on Mr Heuermann’s alleged murder spree, but in a statement released through her lawyers Macedonio & Duncan, she asked for space to “regain some normalcy”.
“On behalf of my family and especially my elderly neighbors, who have also had their lives turned upside down by the enormous police presence, in addition to the spectators, and news crews,” Ms Ellerup’s statement read.
“They deserve to live peacefully; they should be able to walk their dogs and go to the grocery stores without cameras shoved in their faces. I am pleading with you all to give us space so that we may regain some normalcy in our neighborhood.”
Police removed crime scene tape and reopened the block last week after excavating the home’s yard and removing a cache of more than 300 guns from a vault in the basement.
Authorities spent 12 days searching Rex Heuermann’s Massapequa Park on Long Island— (Associated Press)
Last week, Nassau County police warned that anyone trespassing at the home would be fined $150.
“The county executive has made it very clear that we are protecting the neighborhood and we are not allowing this to turn into a side-show,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told a public meeting.
“If you don’t live on that street or visiting someone on that street and are there to stop and take pictures and break the law you will be issued a summons… no questions asked.”
Mr Heuermann, 59, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, whose bodies were found along a Long Island beach roadway in 2010.
He has been named as a prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, but has yet to be charged in the case.
Police allege he committed the murders when his wife and children were out of town on vacation.
